Strategic responses of commercial banks to the threat of substitute products

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to establish the strategies for management development at Kenyatta National Hospital and determine the challenges faced in implementing those strategies. A case study was used. An interview guide was used to collect data. The respondents were heads of functional units at the hospital. Content analysis was used to analyze data. The hospital is concerned for its management population and is using numerous management development strategies such as assessing deficiencies in managerial skills, selecting managers to be developed through endorsements by heads of departments, designing appropriate infrastructure to support the management development initiatives such as allocation of funds for scholarships, and adoption of various strategies for management development like education programmes, conferences, management retreats, job rotations and committees. However, development needs assessment and programme evaluation phases are highly deficient. Despite having management development programmes, the hospital faces various challenges in their implementation. These include lack of specific procedures for evaluating their management development function; lack of reliable information that relate particularly to the hospital's skill reservoir; lack of adequate communication about the development programmes in place; lack of team work among various departments in the implementation of management development programmes; lack of adequate documentation to guide management development; lack of resources for management development; lack of appropriate actions on past development programmes; lack of follow ups on developed managers to see if they are applying the learned skills and competencies; and lack of rewards for developed managers. It is recommended that Kenyatta National Hospital evaluates its development activities so as to have information about what they have achieved in the past and the present and that management development should be linked with other activities. Further research is necessary to establish the extent to which the management development strategies at the hospital have led to improved performance of management staff at the hospital.